Knowing Women

Knowing Women is a study of same-sex desire in West Africa which explores the lives and friendships of working-class women in southern Ghana who are intimately involved with each other. Based on in-depth research of the life histories of women in the region Serena O. Dankwa highlights the vibrancy of everyday same-sexintimaciesthat have not been captured in a globally pervasive language of sexual identity. Paying close attention to the women''s practices of self-reference Dankwa refers to them as ''knowing women'' in a way that both distinguishes them from and relates them to categories such as lesbian or supi a Ghanaian term for female friend. In doing so this study is not only a significant contribution to the field of global queer studies in which both women and Africa have been underrepresented but a starting point to further theorize the relation between gender kinship and sexuality that is key to queer feminist and postcolonial theories. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.